Basra: What really happened

[DoYouEverWonder]

14 January 2006

The young soldiers in flames jumping from their Warrior vehicles into a seething crowd provided some of the defining images of British troops' tour of duty in Iraq.

More than any other moment since the official start of "peacekeeping", it brought home the reality faced by troops in an increasingly turbulent nation.

The Defence Secretary, John Reid, was quick to play down the severity of the clashes last September. It was merely a "limited", controlled event against a small crowd, the Ministry of Defence said. The minister offered reassurances that none of the soldiers was seriously injured and would be back on duty soon.

But an investigation by The Independent has revealed that the violence was much more widespread and one of the youngest soldiers in the Warriors that day is still in hospital four months later, suffering from terrible burns. Nineteen-year-old Pte Karl Hinett is still undergoing treatment for 37 per cent burns.

Many were horrified to see images of Sgt George Long, his body in flames, jumping from the turret. However, what the images failed to show was that Pte Hinett was still in flames inside the Warrior armoured vehicle. The severity of his injuries has never been revealed and even many of his fellow soldiers in the Staffordshire Regiment were not told. One said yesterday that he was devastated when he bumped into him recently while visiting a friend at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham.


http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article338500.ece


Why do they have to lie about everything?

[IndianaGreen]

1. Pictures of the severely wounded don't make it to MSM

In America we get pictures and news stories of Bush joking about a scratch on his forehead, right after he visited the wounded at Brook Army Medical Center:



http://www.progressiveindependent.com/shalom/Jerry/Jerry.html

http://www.progressiveindependent.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=127&topic_id=1912&mesg_id=1922

[MissMarple]

2. Why don't those people have their heads covered?

And George's smock isn't even all the way on. Shameful.